AIMS: The aim of our study was to investigate the comorbidities in Turkish RA patients and evaluate the impact of comorbidities on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in terms of disease activity, functional and radiological status, severity of pain, and social and emotional functioning. METHODS: In a cross-sectional setting, a total of 160 RA patients who were admitted to our outpatient clinic between December 2013 and February 2014 were consecutively enrolled in the study...

miR-497 reportedly plays critical roles in tumor development and progression in many types of cancers. We therefore investigated the function and underlying mechanism of miR-497 in thyroid cancer. We found that miR-497 is downregulated in thyroid cancer tissues, and that miR-497 levels are negatively correlated with advanced clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Overexpressed miR-497 suppressed thyroid cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion in vitro, and inhibited tumorigenesis in vivo...

CONTEXT: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is an orphan disease and confers a dismal prognosis. Standard treatment is not established. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to describe clinical characteristics, current treatment regimens and outcome of ATC and to identify clinical prognostic markers and treatment factors associated with improved prognosis. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study at five German tertiary care centers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Totally 100 ATC patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2015 were included in the analysis...

OBJECTIVES: Intrathyroid metastases from extrathyroid primary tumors are rare. Clinical findings may be subtle, but detection of intrathyroid metastases has improved with sonography. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sonographic appearance of intrathyroid metastases. METHODS: Patients with thyroid masses with cytopathologic features matching those of an extrathyroid primary tumor were retrospectively identified. The appearances of intrathyroid metastases on sonography were reviewed for the following features: size, margin regularity, echogenicity, echotexture, vascularity on power or color Doppler ultrasonography, and the presence or absence of any associated cervical adenopathy...

The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in clinical and sonographic features of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) between cervical lymph node metastatic (CLNM) and nonmetastatic groups. Clinical data of PTC patients (414 patients with 624 malignant nodules) who underwent a preoperative ultrasonography and surgery between June 2010 and March 2015 at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical factors, preoperative ultrasound features and the final pathological findings were obtained...

Because the current trend favors minimally invasive surgery for thyroid disease, increasing interest has developed for thyroidectomy under local anesthesia with monitored anesthesia care (MAC). Here, we retrospectively reviewed 18 cases of thyroidectomy performed under local anesthesia with MAC in a single center. All of the procedures were performed by a single surgeon, using local lidocaine infiltration around the incisional site and propofol plus remifentanil target-controlled infusion. Sore throat (4/18), hypocalcemia (1/18), and transient voice color change (1/18) were observed, but the patients recovered during the follow-up period...

BACKGROUND: Thyroid nodules are usually diagnosed using fine-needle aspiration (FNA). The sensitivity limitations of FNA result in 10-30% of nodules being classified as "indeterminate". The BRAF(V600E) mutation is associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We conducted a systemic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic utility of the BRAF(V600E) mutation in indeterminate nodules. METHOD: PUBMED and EMBASE were searched for studies testing for the BRAF(V600E) involving indeterminate nodules (Thy3a, Thy3f, Thy4) and containing information on final surgical histopathology...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA comprising approximately 19-25 nucleotides. miRNAs can act as tumour suppressors or oncogenes, and aberrant expression of miRNAs has been reported in several human cancers and has been associated with cancer initiation and progression. Recent evidence suggests that miRNAs play a major role in thyroid carcinogenesis. In this review, we summarize the role of miRNAs in thyroid cancer and describe the oncogenic or tumour suppressor function of miRNAs as well as their clinical utility as prognostic or diagnostic markers in thyroid cancer...

Until recently, stimulating TSH receptor autoantibodies (sTRAbs) could only be measured by bioassays. A new assay system, which directly detects sTRAb in sera by applying bridge technology, has been established and is now available as automated chemiluminescence (bridge) immunoassay. We evaluated the automated bridge assay in clinical routine and compared it with a conventional automated TRAb assay (competition assay). Altogether, 226 Graves' disease (GD), 57 autoimmune thyroiditis, 74 non-autoimmune nodular goiter and 49 thyroid cancer patients, as well as 41 healthy controls were retrospectively evaluated...

Obesity is associated with several metabolic and endocrine disorders; and changes in plasma concentrations, secretion patterns, and clearance of various hormones are observed in obese patients. In this context, recent research has shown that overweight can influence the function of the thyroid gland, usually leading to increased thyrotropin concentrations and changes in the ratio between the hormones triiodothyronine and thyroxine, though within the normal range. The etiology of these changes is still unclear; however, several mechanisms have been proposed including the adaptive process to increase energy expenditure, hyperleptinemia, changes in the activity of deiodinases, the presence of thyroid hormones resistance, chronic low-grade inflammation, and insulin resistance...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article discusses the clinical features, pathophysiology, and management of toxic and endocrine myopathies. RECENT FINDINGS: Early detection and expeditious correction of metabolic disturbances in endocrinopathies such as Cushing syndrome, thyroid and parathyroid diseases, and acromegaly can minimize and prevent neurologic complications including myopathy. Recently proposed mechanisms of injury in patients with critical illness myopathy include inhibition of protein synthesis, mitochondrial dysfunction, disruption of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, oxidative stress, and disruption of intramuscular calcium homeostasis, which can cause a myosin-loss myopathy...

The version 5 of the guideline for radioiodine therapy of benign thyroid disorders is an update of the version 4, which was published by the German Society of Nuclear Medicine (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nuklearmedizin, DGN) in co-ordination with the German Society of Endocrinology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Endokrinologie, DGE, Sektion Schilddrüse) and the German Society of General- and Visceral-Surgery (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie, DGAV) in 2007. This guideline was harmonized with the recommendations of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM)...

PURPOSE: The thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) is the target autoantigen for TSHR-stimulating autoantibodies in Graves' disease. The TSHR is composed of: a leucine-rich repeat domain (LRD), a hinge region or cleavage domain (CD) and a transmembrane domain (TMD). The binding arrangements between the TSHR LRD and the thyroid-stimulating autoantibody M22 or TSH have become available from the crystal structure of the TSHR LRD-M22 complex and a comparative model of the TSHR LRD in complex with TSH, respectively...

BACKGROUND: Thyroid autoimmunity may be linked to infertility, in both thyrotropin (TSH)-dependent and TSH-independent fashion. The aim of the present study was to assess this presumed reciprocal relationship of thyroid autoimmunity and pregnancy. METHODS: TSH and antithyroid peroxidase autoantibodies (anti-TPO) were evaluated retrospectively over an eight-year period in 444 Greek women who had previously none or at least one pregnancy (>28 weeks). Statistics were done with analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) and the Chi square test...

Renal cell cancer rarely metastasizes to the thyroid gland, and it has been reported to present as a solitary mass. We present a case of diffuse thyroid cancer metastases from renal cell cancer. Bilateral internal jugular vein tumor thrombi were also present. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of diffuse thyroid metastases from renal cell cancer in the English literature. Renal cell cancer metastases should be considered in the differential of thyroid imaging abnormalities arising in the setting of known renal cell carcinoma, particularly late in the course of disease...

BACKGROUND: Amiodarone is associated with a number of significant adverse effects, including elevated transaminase levels, pulmonary fibrosis, arrhythmia, and thyroid dysfunction. Although thyroid dysfunction is considered to be a common and potentially serious adverse effect of amiodarone therapy, the exact pathogenesis remains unknown because of its complex manifestations. Therefore, the prevalence of, and risk factors for, amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction in Japanese patients were investigated in the present study...

PURPOSE: Thyroid cancer is the most frequent malignancies of the endocrine system, and it has became the fastest growing type of cancer worldwide. Much still remains unknown about the molecular mechanisms of thyroid cancer. Studies have found that some certain relationship between ARAP3 and human cancer. However, the role of ARAP3 in thyroid cancer has not been well explained. This study aimed to investigate the role of ARAP3 gene in papillary thyroid carcinoma. METHODS: Whole exon sequence and whole genome sequence of primary papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) samples and matched adjacent normal thyroid tissue samples were performed and then bioinformatics analysis was carried out...